Re: Comet Hyakutake? YES!!!!

Yet another satisfied comet hunter. Here in New London CT we were granted
a few hours of clear sky early last evening. By 8 pm or so the eastern
sky had cleared enough to hope. Went out around 9-9:30 and could easily spot
Arcturus and then the comet.

Naked-eye it appeared very diffuse and hazy. The horizon around here was
hazy as well so I couldn't make an estimate of the angular extent, but it
did show a central brightening. Through 10X50 binocs, it was an
impressive sight (especially after Halley and others that will remain
unnamed. Nothing will ever beat West.) with a brighter center and fuzz
sourrounding it plus a short tail. I was so excited that I ran up to the
observatory to open up and get some ccd pictures (given that this was the
first clear night in many a day to do so) but new england weather being
what it is, by the time I got the dome opened a thick cloud cover rolled in
and has been there ever since. I am hoping for some clearing tonight as
we are holding a comet party here for the public but it doesn't look good.

Does anyone have any ccd images that they have made? Anyone with clear
weather? Keep those observations coming.

At Ashcroft Observatory at Southern Utah University we have had exceptional
skies. Brent sorensen took photos on Thursday morning which showed coma
with dust clouds beginning and several short jets coming from each side of
the coma. Photos also showed two long tail streamers with much complex
structure - thin sections, knotty sections, separations and joinings of
material.
The photos from Friday morning show a much broader tail structure with a
half dozen streamers, and considerably more dust. The tail changed quite a
bit over the 3 hours stretch of photos.
We're starting to get high clouds now; wish us luck for tonight.